Monday, September 23, 2013

Week 3 Perth Amboy NJ, Week 9 of Mission

Familia!

Its is soooo good to hear from you every week! Every Sunday
night I get so excited because I get to email you in the morning. I absolutely
love all the pictures. It is so nice to see every one of you and home. I
love it. Crazy week I am sure for you guys. I have been praying tons for you
all as Chloe heads out this week! TWO DAYS!! Cant believe that it is
already here. (Chloe going to Iowa Des Moines Mission) Chloe, you are going to love it. I cant believe its already fall! Have
the leaves started turning colors? Dad, make sure you ride Armstrong trail for
me (Once your shoulder and hand heal) and look at those amazing yellow
aspens at the top by the Mid Mountain trail. Those are my favorite in PC. Kinda
secret to find. You have to bike to be able to see them.

So I am going to answer some questions from mom (or
from the whole family, but I was thinking they were mom's though
because they were some "worry questions" ha love you mom (He knows me well) ) So
here you go: Yes I got your package! Thank you so much. I'm not sure how we got
it though. The other Elders picked it up. Shared all the cookies. Ha so I am in zone 8 and for
studying:

-Two Hours of Companion Study: We share what we read in
personal study, prepare for lessons for that day and then go into the 12 week
program, which is basically hours and hours or role playing and watching training
movies. Way fun.

-Then one hour of language study: Reading spanish Book
of Mormon, or doing grammer exercises.

So yes we are in a walking area, but it is pretty small. We
walk between 3 and10 miles a day. It was tiring at first but I am getting
used to it. I love my shoes though. We bought the perfect ones. (Ecco) All those hours
shopping paid off! We are so exhausted at night that I sleep amazingly well. Usually
I can get a whole 8 hours of solid sleep. Its one of the best feelings to work
hard and then get to sleep. We see the other two Elders all the time. We eat
all our meals with them usually back at home. They are awesome, a little
crazy, but they bring some laughter and fun.

This week was a little rough. About half of our planned
lessons fell through so we only taught around 15 lessons this week. It was
tough on me for a few days because we only taught 3 lessons in 3 days! And
one day we taught none! I cant imagine those Europe missions. Dad, way to stick
it out until the end. It takes a lot of faith and trust to work this hard and
not see the fruit of your labors. Thanks for being such a great example and
serving an awesome mission Dad. I know you blessed many lives, many you don't
even know.

We got super blessed yesterday on Sunday though. So we had
been trying all week and last to get into this inactive members home and talk
with him. His name is C_____. He is inactive and the rest of his family
are not members. Finally, with the help of a branch member who was this
man's friend, we set an appointment for last Saturday at 10 AM. We told
him we would play basketball with him if he decided to listen to our message.
He agreed! So we played a round of two on two basketball and then taught him a
lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He did not seem super receptive. But we
invited him to pray and we dowloaded an LDS app on his phone for him so he
could read the scriptures easier. We almost set an alarm too. So we left
thinking that we didnt do much. But last night his member-friend called
us and told us the best news I have heard so far out here. Such a cool story,
he said that C_____ told him that he had locked himself in
his room and prayed for 15 minutes one of the deepest prayers he had ever
given. The whole time his nonmember wife was knocking on the door of his room
asking to open the door. He told her to leave him alone for a while.
After he finished his prayer he went out and talked with his wife. He told her
that he had been praying. She said: Why havent you been praying with me! I want
to pray too! He said: but the missionaries told me to pray alone! Ha
so funny. So we are going to tell them this week it is ok to pray as
a family at our next visit. Way awesome/ funny.